Facebook Live Video Captures Fatal Shooting — Chicago Man Streaming Live Dies From Gunfire [Graphic Video]


A man in Chicago died while streaming a live video for the social media platform Facebook. He was the victim of a gunfire during his live broadcast.

Antonio Perkins, a resident of Chicago, recorded his own murder while streaming a live video on Facebook. He was out with his friends on Wednesday night in North Lawndale. The 14-minute video featured the man drinking and hanging out with friends on a sidewalk, reported KTLA. All seemed well, but mere six minutes into the video, gun shots were heard. The sound of gunfire followed screaming, and the camera along with Perkins fell to the ground.

https://www.facebook.com/ktla5/posts/10154374227374614

The incident happened at 8:45 p.m. when Perkins was recording the video that was being posted live through Facebook Live, a recently added feature which allows people to record and post videos simultaneously on the social media platform.

The feature was launched to the public in late January. It instantly shot to fame owing to its simplicity and the ability to record and post videos right from the smartphone which has the Facebook app installed. Many tourists and globetrotters have been actively using the feature to record their movements and share it live with their friends and family members on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlyMiscotti/videos/10154921176399046/

In the case of Perkins, he was accompanied by two of his three young children when they were out on the sidewalk. Perkins is seen in the video with his friends. He doesn’t appear to be saying much, but suddenly blasts of gunfire are heard in the background. Though the grainy video, shot in dim light of the night, doesn’t exactly show the bullets hitting him, police later confirmed he died of multiple gunshot wounds to his head and neck. Emergency medical personnel who responded to the crime scene pronounced Perkins dead at 9:07 p.m. after he was taken to a nearby hospital.

Chicago police are confident the shooting which resulted in Perkins’ death was gang-related, and that the gunfire was aimed at the victim. Incidentally, Perkins’ father acknowledged his affiliation to a gang, but stressed that it was in the past and that Perkins was a changed man who had long severed ties with them. Speaking fondly about his deceased son, Perkins’ father Daniel Cole said,

“A lot of people loved my son; he was a good person. He had just been promoted at McDonald’s. He worked almost every day and Wednesday night was a rare night out. He was not the target and not a gangbanger.”

Detectives assigned to the incident have confirmed that the Facebook Live video, which shows Perkins collapsing to the ground after several gunshots are heard in the background, is indeed connected to the actual shooting that took place that day. Chicago police officers do not have a suspect in custody, but are carefully examining the video, hoping it will offer some clues about the crime, reported WGNTV.

Meanwhile, Facebook has acknowledged that the video streamed live on its platform; however, despite the sensitivity of the issue, it hasn’t been taken down. Facebook has merely marked the video with a user warning label that cautions the viewer about the graphic nature of the content they are about to access. The social media giant has noted that it will remove the video if it violates their policies pertaining to graphic or obscene content.

According to CNN, this is the second incident involving Facebook’s new streaming service this week. A day earlier, an ISIS sympathizer killed a French policeman and his partner in France. He then proceeded to broadcast his crime live on Facebook and threatened violence at the Euro 2016 soccer championship.

Facebook Live competes with Twitter’s Periscope, which also encourages users to stream live videos from their phones. Unfortunately, even this service has witnessed crimes being broadcast live. Earlier this year, a teenager was accused of live streaming the rape of her 17-year-old friend using Periscope, reported the Daily Mail.

[Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]

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